By Sam Conner
The Winslow City Council agreed Tuesday evening to have the Arizona League of Cities and Towns conduct the search for a new city manager to replace Jim Ferguson.
League Executive Director Ken Strobeck addressed the council on the issue and noted that the league is already advertising the position.
Strobeck spoke of many things the council can expect during its search for a city manager and what the League of Cities and Towns would do to aid that search. He said that the total cost to the city would be $5,500 and would continue until the city had a new city manager under contract.
A motion to approve the agreement for the league to conduct the search was passed unanimously.
Mayor Robin Boyd described the agreement as a bargain for the city, and noted that such a search by the city itself would be much more expensive and less thorough.
The league has developed an advertisement and position profile, which has already been in use.
Advertisements will be placed in a variety of regional and national outlets targeting those with an interest and experience in municipal management, and the league will receive, catalogue and acknowledge each application. It will do the initial screening of applicants based on position profiles and job descriptions.
Background checks and education verifications will be done on finalists, and telephone interviews may be held.
The city council will have the final decision, and the service will continue until a city manager is selected and under contract. The council will have access to all applications and may continue the search until the position is filled.
Ferguson spoke of delays on a number of projects awaiting Arizona State Historic Preservation Commission approval.
Alan Rosenbaum spoke about animal control, including an ordinance being prepared for a tethering law. He also spoke on recycling and the fact that the city would be using two recycling trailers from Navajo County. He noted that there are plans to have the transfer station open all day Sunday.
The council proclaimed May 12-18 as Police Officers Week and May 15 as Police Memorial Day in the city. The proclamation was presented to Police Chief Steve Garnett.
May 19-25 was set aside as Emergency Medical Services Week in the city. That proclamation was presented to Matt Gose.
Tex Cavin was appointed to the Historic Preservation Commission.
An item regarding approval of the city sponsoring a triathlon resulted in adoption of a motion to sponsor the event with a limit of $600 for the city’s donation. A great amount of time was spent discussing the issue with Steve Hancock speaking as the sponsor. There was concern about the fact that a private company would profit from the event and Councilwoman Marsha Juergens voted against the motion, which passed 5-1 with Councilman Peter Cake absent from the proceedings.
The council voted for renewal of the Smartworksplus, Inc. contract, but tabled a proposal to include health benefits for employees who had been under that contract. There was much discussion about the requirement for health care under the Affordable Health Care Act, and whether such was required of the city or of Smartworksplus.
An ordinance was adopted declaring as surplus a strip of land approximately eight feet wide between Mahoney and Fleming Streets on the east side of the cemetery, and abandoning the property to owners of adjacent property. One of those adjacent property owners spoke and said that he would pay for the survey the city would require and recommended the others do likewise.
Ken Evans spoke during the call to the public, noting that the cemetery is looking much better, but that other city parks are not. He cited a number of issues and said that most of the parks were not as good as in the 1980s, and more weeds than grass is growing in some of them.
The consent calendar was adopted giving approvals to the check register and minutes of the April 23 council meeting.